Patriots QB Tom Brady ready to get back to work: "I think about all the things that I screwed up"

Monday, August 29, 2011 -- Anonymous (not verified)

Naturally, the Patriots' 34-10 loss to the Lions on Saturday night didn't sit well with quarterback Tom Brady. The team arrived home from Detroit yesterday morning after a bumpy flight through Hurricane Irene and had the day off.

Brady was eager to get in the film room and figure out what the team needs to do better in preparation for its final preseason game Thursday night against the Giants, and more importantly, for the regular season, which starts two weeks from today in Miami.

"I’m sure there’s a lot to be learned, a lot to be understood by our entire team of the things we have to do on a consistent basis so we can win games," Brady said in his weekly interview with WEEI's Dennis and Callahan. "We’re getting back to work today, we had yesterday off, and I think everyone’s excited to go in there and see what the issues were, and see the positives we can take from the game, so we can move on and hopefully go out and play better this week... I think about all the things that I screwed up and that I need to do better. That’s why I’m anxious to get on the practice field and start to try to make improvements."

If Brady has his way, he'll have a chance to make some improvements in Thursday's preseason finale against the Giants at Gillette Stadium. Brady was pulled after playing one quarter in last year's final preseason game.

"I said after the (Lions) game I hope to go out there and play and play as much as they'll let me," Brady said. "I want to get through there and for us to start really stringing some good plays together, good drives together before the games do start counting. If it's up to me, I'm playing a lot. It's always up to coach (Bill) Belichick and no one really questions what he does because he's been coaching for a long time, but I'm certainly going to put my two cents worth in."

The lackluster effort on Saturday was particularly jarring after the Patriots had looked so crisp in their first two preseason games. While many were singing the Pats praises after those wins, Brady said the team didn't grow overconfident or complacent.

"We really try to make a concerted effort not to do that," Brady said. "That’s probably one of the great characteristics of playing for a Bill Belichick-coached team is that we don’t really listen to what anyone else says. We pretty much stick to what our coaches tell us. He wasn’t as overly enthusiastic about the Tampa game. He thought there was plenty of things we could have done better. And there will be plenty of things we could have done better this weekend. It’s all a part of our maturation as a team."

A major problem on Saturday was the Lions relentless pass rush. Detroit had two sacks and Brady was under pressure all night, though he said it wasn't entirely the offensive line's fault.

"I've played behind those guys for a long time and nobody has more confidence in those guys than me," Brady said. "When the quarterback gets sacked, a lot of the time people blame the offensive line. Well, some of the time it’s the quarterback. Some of the time it's them having really tight coverage on the receiver. A lot of it is, just us as a team, collectively making sure we’re all on the same page, so that you don’t get sacked, you don’t throw interceptions, you don’t have plays that are negative offensively, whether it's penalties or lost yardage in the run game. Those are all things we’re working on, those are things we need to do a better job of on a consistent basis and hopefully they will be a lot better here in a couple weeks."